


Going Home

by Vivien



Category: Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-12-24
Updated: 2008-12-24
Packaged: 2018-01-25 01:59:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1625567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vivien/pseuds/Vivien
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Underside had never seemed as large as it did now, with her little sister hidden somewhere within it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Going Home

**Author's Note:**

> Written for seawench

 

 

Door watched as Richard walked through the way she'd opened for him and disappear back into the life he'd lost, briefly, for her. She wished he would have stayed, but if someone came to her with a key to a door that would take her home, she'd have stepped through without thinking or looking back, too.

She didn't know what to do next, but she knew she could never really go home again. Oh, she could go back to the House with No Doors, of course, if she could bear it. It would never be home, though, not without her father's tired smiles, her mother's hugs, her brother's teasing, her sister's giggles...

Ingress might be out there somewhere. The angel would have said anything by that point, but maybe, just maybe, Ingress was alive. The Underside had never seemed as large as it did now, with her little sister hidden somewhere within it.

She sighed, sunk down into the collar of her leather jacket, and began walking. She'd go back to the house, first, and get some rest. Then she'd start asking the rats and the pigeons for news. Her father's friends ought to come out of the woodwork by the time the news of Islington's removal got round. In London Below, you waited to hear who won before you chose sides. 

* * *

Ingress sat on the floor of the dark, dank room, clutching the thin, dirty blanket around her. It was cold, and when she started shivering, it was hard to stop.

Sometimes a bright light shone from the slot in the door, and a piece of bread would be shoved through it, along with some stale water in a tin cup. No one talked to her, though. 

She cried the first couple of days, calling for her mother and her father, for Door and Arch, but no one came. No one even told her to be quiet, though if she listened through the slot, she could hear gruff voices.

She had tried desperately to open the door, but it was too thick and the lock was not on the inside. She was too little. Her father had only just started teaching her how to use her Talent. She hadn't been able to open the man in white's door, either. She'd tried and tried, and he gave her candy, and she tried again. He slapped her when she couldn't. When she cried and he slapped her again, she knew she was in bad, bad trouble. She didn't know how to get out of it, and she was scared and alone. Someone would come for her. Surely someone would come soon. 

* * *

Door walked for hours at a time, and while she used to wander the Underside for fun, her feet were now as heavy as her heart. The rats weren't as helpful as she'd hoped. Croup and Vandemar moved in strange ways that were not always perceived by their kind. While they assured Door they were looking and listening and smelling for her sister, she couldn't help but wonder if Ingress was long since dead, and she on a fool's errand to keep from wandering aimlessly through the rooms of the house or to avoid taking up her father's work.

She kept going, because to stop would be giving up, and Lady Door was not one to give up. Ever. 

* * *

After a while in the dark, Ingress stopped calling for her family. She stopped crying. She stopped doing much but staring into the darkness and hoping. Daddy would come for her. Or Door or Arch. She didn't think her mummy could come, because she was probably hurt and in bed. All that blood coming from her neck... She hoped Mummy was okay.

The little girl sat by the slot in the door, hoping she'd hear voices she knew. She brushed off the spiders that crawled upon her. She said nursery rhymes to herself and listened in memories to her family reading her stories she loved. When she got tired enough, she'd lie down and suck her thumb until she could sleep and dream of home and warm beds and tight hugs.

She slept most of the time now, since she didn't want to be awake. 

* * *

"Richard!" said Door, flinging her arms around her friend in the middle of a medieval inn's courtyard. She'd run into him there, literally, as she sped towards Chislehurst and its warren of caves and lairs. "You came back!"

"I couldn't stay away," he said with a lop-sided smile, spinning around from the force of her embrace.

"I'm so glad you're here. Could you- _would_ you help me once more? I know I owe you a great deal-"

"You owe me nothing, Door. What do you need?"

"Oh, Richard, if you're going to live here from now on, you really must learn how to bargain with favors," she said, her eyes sparkling even as she chided him. "I need help finding Ingress. I think I know where she is, but the way there is a little dangerous. Not like the Labyrinth, but I need a Warrior by my side."

"Ingress is your little sister, right?"

Door nodded her head.

Richard took his knife out. She would serve him as well as she served Hunter in this quest and many others to come. "Lead the way, my lady."

"Call me Door, please," she said with a shy smile. She took his hand and touched the wall. They disappeared through it on a shortcut to the Chislehurst Caves. 

* * *

When Ingress heard a voice calling her name, she thought she was dreaming again. She heard her mummy's voice all the time in her dreams, after all, telling her to be brave and to not give up hope. She sat up and pressed her ear against the slot in the door.

"Ingress? Ingress? Are you here?"

That was Door. She'd come! Ingress' eyes lit up. She tried to cry out in answer, but she hadn't used her voice in so long that nothing but a scratchy whimper came out.

It was enough.

The door swung open, and the dim lamp light from the outer room blinded Ingress. It didn't matter anymore, because Door was there, scooping her up from the cold floor and hugging her, telling her that it was okay, that she was safe.

"Sweetheart, I found you, I found you," Door said over and over, rocking Ingress in her arms.

"Am I dreaming?" Ingress asked, her eyes blinking from the too-bright light.

"No, no, you're not," Door said, kissing her on the forehead. Her sister was thin and filthy, but she was safe. Thank the Temple and the Arch, she was _safe_.

Ingress began crying. So did Door.

Richard spotted the sisters as soon as he entered the room, panting from his scuffle with the guards without. Door sat on the stone floor with the small girl on her lap, both of them crying their hearts out. He cleaned the blood from his blade and waited. He didn't want to interrupt. 

Door noticed him and reached out her hand to him, sniffling and smiling at the same time. He walked over and took it, squeezing her hand once.

"Ingress," Door said. "I want you to meet a very good friend of mine. His name is Richard."

Ingress looked up. Her eyes were the same as Door's only the colors within them were duller, muted from the trauma she'd gone through. "Hi, Ingress," he said, and he smiled in what he hoped was a friendly way. He didn't have much experience with children. 

The little girl clutched at her sister's coat, but she tried to smile back before her face fell again. "Where's Daddy?" she asked Door. "I saw Mummy get hurt, but where's Daddy?"

Door wiped at her eyes with her hand, trying not to start crying again at the mention of their parents. "Let's get you home, and I'll tell you everything, okay? But first we'll get you some papadums and some rice, and then a nice hot bath." It would be the hardest conversation Door would have, but Ingress was of the House of the Arch. Its ladies were tough enough to take what was dealt to them. 

Door stood up, Ingress still cradled in her arms, and turned to Richard. "Would you come with us and stay? As a guest of our house?"

Richard had been in London Below long enough to understand what an invitation like this meant. It meant acceptance, and it meant a bond of sorts, though he was not required to pledge fealty to any house, barony, or fiefdom. With Door, it might mean something more, and Richard had decided that he liked the idea of something more with Door. Heaven knew she needed him as much as he needed her.

"It would do me great honor," he said, and he took Door's hand once more.

Door smiled tiredly. Happy endings did not happen in the Underside. But sometimes you got a good ending, anyway.

 


End file.
